Grade 7 Unit 2: Petroleum and Energy Resources

Vocabulary flashcards covering the geological formation, historical extraction, commercial evolution, chemical components, and environmental impacts of petroleum based on Grade 7 Unit 2 notes.

Petroleum

A naturally occurring liquid fossil fuel, crude oil, and hydrocarbon formed over hundreds of millions of years from the buried remains of organic matter; the term derives from Latin words meaning "rock oil," first cited by German mineralogist Georg Bauer in $1556$.

Methane

A gaseous hydrocarbon associated with petroleum and natural gas deposits, having the chemical formula $CH_4$.

Ethane

A hydrocarbon fuel found in natural gas and crude petroleum deposits, represented by the chemical formula $C_2H_6$.

Propane

A three-carbon alkane hydrocarbon derived from petroleum refining and natural gas processing, with the chemical formula $C_3H_8$.

Marine Plankton

Microscopic marine organisms that lived in ancient shallow seas roughly $90\text{--}150\text{ Ma}$; their compressed and heated organic remains served as the primary source material for modern-day petroleum deposits.

Geological Traps

Dome-shaped subterranean rock formations buried deep beneath the Earth's crust that seal and accumulate migrating natural gas and liquid crude oil over geologic time.

Oil Seeps

Naturally occurring surface fissures where crude oil and bitumen escape from underground reservoirs; used since antiquity along river systems like the Euphrates River.

Bitumen

A dense, viscous, tar-like petroleum substance obtained naturally from oil seeps and oil sands, utilized by ancient Sumerians, Assyrians, and Babylonians as an asphalt mortar for waterproofing.

Seneca Oil

A petroleum-based tonic named after a Native American tribe, advertised in $1792$ newspapers as a cure-all medicinal treatment for New World settlers.

Abraham Gesner

A Canadian geologist who distilled kerosene in $1849$ as a cleaner-burning substitute for whale oil, earning him recognition as the "Father of the Petroleum Industry."

Benjamin Silliman

A Yale chemist whose $1855$ scientific report on rock oil from Venango County, Pennsylvania, validated the commercial viability and profitability of refined petroleum.

Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company

George Bissel's oil venture that drilled the first commercial oil well in the United States in $1859$ to a depth of $70\,\text{feet}$.

Standard Oil

An American petroleum corporation founded in $1870$ by John D. Rockefeller of Ohio with $\$1\,\text{million}$ in capital, expanding rapidly to dominate the nation's refining and distribution industry.

Zoroaster

A steam-powered vessel constructed by the Nobel brothers in $1877$ to transport bulk kerosene across the Caspian Sea, becoming the world's first oil tanker.

Spindletop

A major oil gusher drilled in $1901$ near Beaumont, Texas, that produced $100{,}000\,\text{barrels}$ per day and established Beaumont as one of the earliest American oil boomtowns.

Ancient Shallow Oceans (Cretaceous Petroleum Environment)

Warm aquatic environments existing roughly $100\,\text{Ma}$ with an average global temperature of approximately $35^\circ\text{C}$ (compared to modern averages of $15^\circ\text{C}$), providing the high organic plankton deposition and subsequent limestone and shale layering necessary to generate oil reserves.

Wallace Carothers

A DuPont chemist who invented nylon in $1935$, introducing the world's first purely synthetic fiber synthesized from petroleum-based hydrocarbons.

Marlex

The brand name for crystalline polypropylene and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) discovered in $1951$ by chemist Robert Banks at Phillips Petroleum, utilized in goods such as milk jugs, carpets, and hula hoops.

OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries)

An international cartel created in $1960$ by Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Kuwait, Qatar, and Iran to defend national oil valuations and counter Western control of crude oil pricing.

Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975

Federal legislation enacted following the $1973$ oil shortage that instituted national automobile efficiency standards and established federal speed limits on U.S. highways.

Exxon Valdez

An oil tanker that grounded on a reef in Alaska's Prince William Sound in $1989$, spilling $39{,}000\,\text{tons}$ of crude oil into the surrounding marine habitat.

Rumaila Oil Field

A contentious border petroleum field that ignited the diplomatic dispute leading to Iraq's military invasion of Kuwait in $1990$.

Kyoto Protocol

An international environmental treaty negotiated in $1997$ to curtail greenhouse gas emissions, which the United States declined to ratify despite international criticism.

Oil Sands

Unconventional petroleum deposits consisting of bitumen mixed with sand, clay, and water; by $1999$, they accounted for approximately $15\%$ of Canada's total oil production.

Energy Policy Act of 2005

Federal law mandating that $7.5\,\text{billion gallons}$ of renewable fuels be blended into the United States gasoline supply by the year $2012$.

Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE)

Federal automotive fuel economy standards raised in $2007$ from $27.5\,\text{mpg}$ to $35\,\text{mpg}$ by $2020$, and later revised in $2009$ to $39\,\text{mpg}$ for passenger vehicles and $30\,\text{mpg}$ for light trucks.

Deepwater Horizon Spill

A $2010$ offshore drilling catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico involving an exploded BP rig that discharged more than $4.9\,\text{million barrels}$ of oil, representing the largest marine oil spill in petroleum history.

Tight Oil

Light crude oil trapped within low-permeability sedimentary rock formations (such as shale and limestone), unlocked in the $2010\text{s}$ via hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling.

Keystone XL Pipeline

A proposed TransCanada crude oil transport project rejected by President Barack Obama in $2015$ due to concerns over carbon emissions and potential pipeline spills.